Spot training and toning?

Nessie112
Nessie112 Posts: 39 Member
in Fitness and Exercise
Hey guys, sorry if I sound stupid! Okay so I'm a little confused on the concept of spot training. I know that spot training doesn't work. Does that mean you can't lose fat in a certain area? Or build muscle in certain areas to? I'm trying really hard to lose weight :) I think it's working :) I'm doing cardio at least 3 days a week, and almost always staying under my calorie limit. I really want to tone up though. I'm a little confused about how to do that. I really want to lose inches more so even than lbs. What kind of work outs will help? I basically want to tone my whole body, but I don't think I can just running right? I used to go to the gym but it closed down, any at home exercises? I have 5lb and 10lb weights, I know it's not much, but it's something. Do things like "30 day ab challenge" actually work to help tone? Thanks so much! :D

Replies

  • _HeartsOnFire_
    _HeartsOnFire_ Posts: 5,304 Member
    If you have 75+ lbs to lose 2 lbs/week is ideal
    If you have 40-75 lbs to lose 1.5 lbs/week is ideal
    If you have 25-40 lbs to lose 1 lbs/week is ideal
    If you have 15 -25 lbs to lose 0.5 to 1.0 lbs/week is ideal
    If you have less than 15 lbs to lose 0.5 lbs/week is ideal

    Want to lift heavy things?
    http://www.nerdfitness.com/blog/2011/07/21/meet-staci-your-new-powerlifting-super-hero/

    Stronglifts Summary
    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/560459-stronglifts-5x5-summary

    Stronglifts Womens Group
    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/groups/home/4601-stronglifts-5x5-for-women

    Don't have access to a gym or weights then look into convict conditioning.
  • shmerek
    shmerek Posts: 963 Member
    You can't lose fat in targeted areas. The only way to lose fat is to be in caloric deficit. The best way to build muscle is to lift heavy weights.
  • CharleePear
    CharleePear Posts: 1,948 Member
    The word tone is a media word, a catch phrase, what you are looking for is losing fat while maintaining muscle. Is there no other gym you can join? Other wise there are dozens of at home things you can do. Body circuits. Insanity, P90x all those kinds of things will bring you what you are looking for. Basically you just need to find resistance, lifting heavy things if you can including your own body weight, and raising your heart rate for extended times several days a week, and eat at a calorie deficit

    Read this: http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/1175494-a-guide-to-get-you-started-on-your-path-to-sexypants?hl=sexypants&page=8#posts-19787394

    Unless you have certain health issues stopping weight loss it should be as simple as that.

    Edit to Add: You don't sound stupid, we all start somewhere and people here sometimes can sound harsh just cos it's over the internet. Good luck on your journey! :flowerforyou:
  • caesar164
    caesar164 Posts: 312 Member
    You can't spot reduce fat; but you can definitely enhance areas in your body by training that said muscle group with resistance training... Toning doesn't mean much to me, what you want is muscular development.. Let's say you want to build rounder or bigger calves, to help enhance your legs when wearing high heals. You would go ahead and start a training program that consist of exercises that stimulate growth in that area. The more you develop that muscle, the more " tone" lol, you will have in that area.
  • Nessie112
    Nessie112 Posts: 39 Member
    You can't spot reduce fat; but you can definitely enhance areas in your body by training that said muscle group with resistance training... Toning doesn't mean much to me, what you want is muscular development.. Let's say you want to build rounder or bigger calves, to help enhance your legs when wearing high heals. You would go ahead and start a training program that consist of exercises that stimulate growth in that area. The more you develop that muscle, the more " tone" lol, you will have in that area.

    Okay that makes sense thank you! Generally should I work with one muscle group a day? Like should I do arms and chest 3 days a week and abs and legs a different three days? Or should I try to do a full body workout every other day?
  • CharleePear
    CharleePear Posts: 1,948 Member
    You probably wanted him to answer, but I will too, there are so many different ways you can do it. Personally I think when you are just starting, doing a full body workout several times a week is better and you can specialise on muscle groups later. Or you can do shoulders, arms one day, back and abs another and legs a third. Perhaps I misunderstood what you wanted to know, sorry about that.

    ETA: I am doing Stronglifts 5x5 and I find it phenomenal, I add leg press and dumbell pullovers to my routine as well as doing home circuits and ab circuits, The other thing I would highly recommend is Starting Strength, That is if you can do the weights, but I thought you said you had no gym.
  • Capt_Apollo
    Capt_Apollo Posts: 9,026 Member
    beginners benefit the most from full body circuit training three times a week, for a very very long time.

    here are some articles that you should read to help steer you in the right direction.

    http://www.nerdfitness.com/blog/2010/02/15/how-to-build-your-own-workout-routine/

    lift weights http://www.nerdfitness.com/blog/2011/07/21/meet-staci-your-new-powerlifting-super-hero/

    http://www.nerdfitness.com/blog/2013/02/28/strength-training-101/

    http://www.nerdfitness.com/blog/2014/03/03/strength-training-101-how-to-squat-properly/

    http://www.nerdfitness.com/blog/2014/01/14/strength-training-101-where-do-i-start/

    http://www.nerdfitness.com/blog/2014/02/06/strength-training-101-how-much-weight-should-i-be-lifting/

    http://www.nerdfitness.com/blog/2013/03/05/101-equipment/

    http://www.nerdfitness.com/blog/2013/09/11/7-strength-training-myths-every-woman-should-know/
  • Nessie112
    Nessie112 Posts: 39 Member
    You probably wanted him to answer, but I will too, there are so many different ways you can do it. Personally I think when you are just starting, doing a full body workout several times a week is better and you can specialise on muscle groups later. Or you can do shoulders, arms one day, back and abs another and legs a third. Perhaps I misunderstood what you wanted to know, sorry about that.

    I appreciate your answer! I want to work all my muscle groups in a week, but I just don't know if I should do all muscle groups in one day, or split it up. I don't know if having a leg day, then an arm day, then an ab day would work better than trying to do it all in one day. Like I think it would be less tiring to split it up, but then I probably wouldn't see results as fast right?
  • Capt_Apollo
    Capt_Apollo Posts: 9,026 Member
    You probably wanted him to answer, but I will too, there are so many different ways you can do it. Personally I think when you are just starting, doing a full body workout several times a week is better and you can specialise on muscle groups later. Or you can do shoulders, arms one day, back and abs another and legs a third. Perhaps I misunderstood what you wanted to know, sorry about that.

    I appreciate your answer! I want to work all my muscle groups in a week, but I just don't know if I should do all muscle groups in one day, or split it up. I don't know if having a leg day, then an arm day, then an ab day would work better than trying to do it all in one day. Like I think it would be less tiring to split it up, but then I probably wouldn't see results as fast right?

    i read something recently that your muscle groups do recover after about 48 hours. so if you dead lift on monday, they're good to go again by wednesday.
  • caesar164
    caesar164 Posts: 312 Member
    You probably wanted him to answer, but I will too, there are so many different ways you can do it. Personally I think when you are just starting, doing a full body workout several times a week is better and you can specialise on muscle groups later. Or you can do shoulders, arms one day, back and abs another and legs a third. Perhaps I misunderstood what you wanted to know, sorry about that.

    ETA: I am doing Stronglifts 5x5 and I find it phenomenal, I add leg press and dumbell pullovers to my routine as well as doing home circuits and ab circuits, The other thing I would highly recommend is Starting Strength, That is if you can do the weights, but I thought you said you had no gym.

    She's exactly right, as a beginner its usually recommended that you do full body workouts two or three times a week. After about 4 to 6 weeks you could switch to a split format... There are many different ways to train... Some people switch to an upper body lower body split. I train on a two on one off split, and usually take weekends off from lifting. Some people like to hit a body parts twice a week, I train each body part once a week. My training is very intense so I need the time for recovery and growth.
    Here's my split : Mondays, chest and biceps, Tuesdays, quads hamstring and calves, Wednesday off from lifting, but I'll still come in and do ab work, fore arms and cardio... Thursdays shoulders and triceps, and back on Fridays...
  • shmerek
    shmerek Posts: 963 Member

    I appreciate your answer! I want to work all my muscle groups in a week, but I just don't know if I should do all muscle groups in one day, or split it up. I don't know if having a leg day, then an arm day, then an ab day would work better than trying to do it all in one day. Like I think it would be less tiring to split it up, but then I probably wouldn't see results as fast right?
    Unless you are a genetic freak or are taking steroids this type of split will not give you the results you would get doing a full body routine. With these body part splits you are essentially hitting them once a week which is not an optimal training frequency.
  • caesar164
    caesar164 Posts: 312 Member
    I also use advanced training techniques like super sets, giant sets, drop sets, rest pause, pre exhaustion, and much more... But that something that you don't need to worry about any time soon lol..
  • caesar164
    caesar164 Posts: 312 Member

    I appreciate your answer! I want to work all my muscle groups in a week, but I just don't know if I should do all muscle groups in one day, or split it up. I don't know if having a leg day, then an arm day, then an ab day would work better than trying to do it all in one day. Like I think it would be less tiring to split it up, but then I probably wouldn't see results as fast right?
    Unless you are a genetic freak or are taking steroids this type of split will not give you the results you would get doing a full body routine. With these body part splits you are essentially hitting them once a week which is not an optimal training frequency.

    Are you referring to my post? I train with high volume and intensity, so I can only manage one body part a week...
  • shmerek
    shmerek Posts: 963 Member

    I appreciate your answer! I want to work all my muscle groups in a week, but I just don't know if I should do all muscle groups in one day, or split it up. I don't know if having a leg day, then an arm day, then an ab day would work better than trying to do it all in one day. Like I think it would be less tiring to split it up, but then I probably wouldn't see results as fast right?
    Unless you are a genetic freak or are taking steroids this type of split will not give you the results you would get doing a full body routine. With these body part splits you are essentially hitting them once a week which is not an optimal training frequency.

    Are you referring to my post? I train with high volume and intensity, so I can only manage one body part a week...
    Nope I didn't actually see your post.
  • caesar164
    caesar164 Posts: 312 Member
    OK lol...but I'm not suggesting she do what I do, I'm an advanced lifter, and have been lifting for over 20 years...
  • mustgetmuscles1
    mustgetmuscles1 Posts: 3,346 Member
    Plenty of people (even beginners) have had good result from the old body part split. As long as you are progressing and challenging yourself you will see results if that is what you want to do. It is not optimal though.

    Like the others have said it is probably better to start with a full body routine. After you do that for awhile you could switch to something like an upper lower split that allows you to workout a little more often and hits each body part twice per week.

    It is also very common for people to do some extra work for areas they want to bring up. There is really nothing wrong with it as long as it does not interfere with the progression or recovery of the main workout routine.

    Strong Curves is a great book if you want to check it out.

    You could also check out these programs as other options to Starting Strength or SL5x5.
    http://www.canditotraininghq.com/free-strength-programs/
    http://www.muscleandstrength.com/workouts/jason-blaha-ice-cream-fitness-5x5-novice-workout
  • Lleldiranne
    Lleldiranne Posts: 5,516 Member
    You probably wanted him to answer, but I will too, there are so many different ways you can do it. Personally I think when you are just starting, doing a full body workout several times a week is better and you can specialise on muscle groups later. Or you can do shoulders, arms one day, back and abs another and legs a third. Perhaps I misunderstood what you wanted to know, sorry about that.

    I appreciate your answer! I want to work all my muscle groups in a week, but I just don't know if I should do all muscle groups in one day, or split it up. I don't know if having a leg day, then an arm day, then an ab day would work better than trying to do it all in one day. Like I think it would be less tiring to split it up, but then I probably wouldn't see results as fast right?

    Doing a full body workout using compound lifts is actually quicker and more effective. Bench press, squat, overhead press, deadlift, and a back row are the basic moves - they work large muscle groups and the accessory muscles; for example, bench press uses chest muscles but also hits triceps, and core if done properly ... squat works quads, hams, glutes, core for stabilization, and some upper body for holding the bar. If you lift 3 times a week, you only need to do 2 or 3 of these moves each time.

    Look into a program like New Rules of Lifting, Strong Lifts, or Starting Strength (SS is available free online I think). Eat at a slight deficit, with plenty of protein.
  • Nessie112
    Nessie112 Posts: 39 Member
    Thank you so much everybody!!! This was so helpful! Can't wait to get started! I'll take your advice and go for a full body workout 3x a week then maybe split later. Thank you all again so much!! :heart: :happy: :flowerforyou:
  • shmerek
    shmerek Posts: 963 Member
    All the best!
  • CharleePear
    CharleePear Posts: 1,948 Member
    You are welcome! That's what we are here for! Have fun.

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